In the News: Erasing Your Online Mistakes

Have you ever shared something online that you regretted immediately? Maybe it was a picture, status, or comment to a friend. In this day and age, it’s so easy to click ‘Upload’ and ‘Share,’ and sometimes the consequences might not be pretty. If you are someone who has uploaded and regretted, you’ll be interested in knowing that actions are being made by California legislators to give minors the legal right to undo and erase their online mistakes. Some sites might allow users under the age of 18 to erase statuses, pictures, tweets, and other shared content.

According to The New York Times, there has been a lot of debate over how to protect children and their privacy online. Is the Web even worth trying to manage? In the attempt to protect children, a law trying to control the Internet could unintentionally put kids at risk if more personal information is required, such as if the users are indeed under the age of 18 and if the users live in California (since it is a California bill). There are pros and cons to both sides, and determining how to protect online identity is a complicated but important topic.